100 wins for Gjerde

Senior earns century mark on night celebrating seniors

January 24, 2014

On a night when senior Blake Gjerde earned his 100th career victory and Estherville Lincoln Central honored all its seniors, a couple of freshman made their mark on Tuesday.

ELC was tied with Pocahontas Area at 33-33 heading into the final two weights in the nightcap dual. The Midgets had just forfeited at 113 pounds as Coach Dan Hewitt elected to move Juan Castro up a weight in trying to get the non-conference.

Castro took on Poky's Clayton Reis with the two wrestlers tied at 2-2 heading into the final period. But Castro came up with a reversal that caught Reis on his back and Castro earned the pin in 5:28 to give ELC a 39-33 lead.

Article Photos

Estherville Lincoln Central senior Blake Gjerde earned his 100th career victory on Tuesday night in Estherville. Above, the cheerleaders present him with a poster and baloons to mark the occasion.Photo by David Swartz

That gave the Midgets some breathing room for the final match as Clay Budach took on Edgar Ayala at 126 pounds.

Budach simply needed to avoid to pin so that ELC wouldn't have to worry about criteria. He trailed 2-0 after giving up an first-period takedown. That was still the score starting the third. But Budach pulled an escape to cut the deficit to one. Then in the final 20 seconds, he came up with a takedown for a dramatic 3-2 victory that gave ELC a 42-33 victory.

"With it (the dual) coming down to a couple freshman, I just hoped they understood the situation," said coach Hewitt. "They both made some mistakes during their matches, but the outcome worked out in our favor."

In the first dual of the night, Gjerde (152) recorded a pin against Alta-Aurelia's Ben Stange for his 100th career victory. Gjerde went to work immediately in the match and came up with the win in 1 minute, 34 seconds.

Gjerde's second match against Pocahontas Area's Tyler Hubrich proved tougher. But Gjerde scored a pair of takedowns in the first period, a reversal and a takedown in the second and ended up with a 9-3 victory.

"Hubrich is similar to (Spirit Lake's) Kenten Murray in that he looks for the pin late in the match," said Hewitt. "That's the way a lot of the kids wrestle that Blake will have to face."

ELC senior wrestlers honored Tuesday were Gjerde, Oscar Ramirez (132), Thomas Bortvit (138), Jake Bortvit (195), Cole Budach (145) and Billy Snyder (170). Thomas Bortvit recorded a pin against Pocahontas and received a forfeit from Alta-Aurelia. Budach had a pin against Pocahontas and a loss to Alta-Aurelia. Jake Bortvit had a pin against Alta-Aurelia and did not wrestle against Pocahontas. Ramirez and Snyder both received two forfeits on the night.

Castro and Chase Bonner (220) were the only two ELC wrestlers with two pins on the night. Kelly Clabaugh (160) also had a pin against Alta-Aurelia.